IDSA/HIVMA Urge NIAID to Increase K Award Funding Levels

Low Award Levels Will Limit Research Objectives and Discourage Trainees from Entering the Field

In response to an announcement from NIAID indicating a significant drop in funding levels for K awards, IDSA and HIVMA have issued a statement that reads, in part: "At a time when needs for infectious disease and HIV researchers to combat antimicrobial resistance, global outbreaks, and biosecurity threats and advance a cure for HIV, are growing, the low baseline funding for career development grants announced by the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) this week for the coming year will challenge efforts to bring new physician scientists to the field. Congress has provided $2 billion funding increases for the National Institutes of Health in each of the last two years, and most NIH institutes have set higher funding levels for K awards in 2018. IDSA and HIVMA believe that NIAID can and should make this critical investment.” Read the full statement here.

IDSA has urged NIAID to increase existing K award levels, and to consider implementing additional mechanisms to improve the funding landscape for early career researchers, in line with the NIH Next Generation Researchers Initiative. IDSA and HIVMA will continue to urge Congress to increase funding for NIH and NIAID specifically, recognizing that recent increases, while important, have not yet been sufficient to make up for previous years of more stagnant funding, inflation, and growing needs.